BATO: The Legend of CrystalClan
by BlazeTheDemidragon
Summary: I thought I wouldn't have to deal with more of this crap...are you kidding me? Hey, my name is Blaze Firehades. I'm a sixteen year old demidragoness, who really wishes people would stop causing chaos. My hobbies include writing, drawing and kicking evil butt. /THIS IS A SEQUEL TO BLAZE AND THE OLYMPIANS: THUNDER, SEA AND FIRE COMBINED. PLEASE READ THAT BEFORE YOU READ THIS!\\
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One:** _My Old Nanny Decides To Blow Up My School...Except Not Really_

I wrote something down in my notebook, not really bothering with the tray of food in front of me. It was when two boys; Aiden and Chris, sat down on either side of me that I really started paying attention to what was going on around me.

"Hi, Blaze!" Aiden greeted me, a goofy grin already on his face.

Despite me being distracted, I returned the smile. "Hey, Goofball. What's up, and don't say the floor."

He shrugged, unwrapping his chicken patty with inhuman speed. When it came to food, we three could probably eat all of it if we set our mind to it.

"How come you're not eating your pizza?" Chris asked.

I shrugged, jotting down something else.

"I'm gonna steal your food if you don't eat it." He warned me.

I looked at him as I picked up the pizza, and took a big bite. He laughed at my expression.

"Knew that would work. So what's so important that it made the bottomless pit not eat her food?"

I gestured towards the notebook for him to read. Chris leaned over, and looked at it for a minute.

"I have no clue what the heck that says."

I finally swallowed the pizza, and cleared my throat. "That's because it's in Dragonese, genius. I'm writing in Dragonese to practice my Dragonese, because I've been writing in English for awhile, and I'm starting to forget."

He nodded and then began to eat his own food.

My name is Blaze Firehades. I'm sixteen years old, a demidragoness, which means I'm a female demidragon, and I am prone to sarcasm. I'm also prone to making weird friends, but that usually works out.

Right now, I was attempting to enjoy my lunch with two of my closest friends; Aiden and Chris. Both of them were new to the mythological world. At least a month ago, after a great battle between me and my greatest enemy, I'd run into these two on my way home. And found out that there were more people out there like me.

So now I was sorta training them.

I closed my notebook to focus completely on my food and conversation. Between Aiden's jokes and Chris's updates on things, we all had a somewhat normal conversation. If you count talking about gods and stuff "normal."

"So are we meeting up at Rosewood Park later?" Chris asked.

Here's a bit of a description on what the heck everyone looks like, cause ya'll don't know them like I do. Chris has pale skin, blond hair and blue eyes. He practically lives in a hoodie, and though you'd think he'd be taller than me, he's actually shorter. Despite the two grade gap, he's shorter. Strange, but whatever.

Aiden has similar pale skin. Both of them don't often go outside much, especially Aiden who doesn't really have a reason to. Unlike Chris though, he's got black hair and light brown eyes that have been known to carry hints of green in them. Both are thin, Aiden being the taller of the two, and both can lift a lot more than I can as humans.

Until they shift to their demidragon form, I'm not starting any competitions.

Anyway, I nodded. "Yeah, I figured if you two wanted, you could see what the camp looks like, though you'll have to crawl through the tunnel since you don't know how to shift yet."

Both nodded, a bit disappointed by this.

These two, along with Aiden's brother Tanis, were probably the oldest to not have shifted to their demidragon form, at least once in their life. Somehow, they'd avoided triggering what it was that made us shift, though both of them were eighteen. Though from what I'd heard from my sister; Flame, Tanis had recently shifted, and was working hard to learn how to fly. Tanis had moved out to Camp Jupiter, to see what Roman life was like. He was also attending the college there, while he was at it.

The bell rung, signaling our return to classrooms. I picked up my tray, following the two of them to the trash cans.

Before I could toss the now empty tray, a demonic scream entered the air. The chatter of all the teenagers abruptly stopped as we all stared out the windows to see winged demon hags throw fire balls through the window. Instant panic.

Somehow, I found myself standing next to Chris and Aiden. We all were squinting, standing still among the panic, and I finally figured out what in Hades name it was: Alecto. Alecto, the Fury. Seemly possessed, as her eyes were glowing like lava. My old nanny had come back to blow up my school.

"What the heck?" Chris said.

As if noticing me, Alecto stopped the hurling of her fiery spheres and spoke in an echoing voice.

 _Blaze Firehades...prepare to die_ she said, it echoing in my head.

I shrugged and stepped forward, despite the looks of shock and panic on Aiden and Chris's faces. Before they had a chance to grab me, and pull me back, I shot out my hand, summoning a wall of fire from the wreckage around me. They jumped back.

Alecto grinned, and spun towards me, a ball of fiery death. I laughed for a minute, before shifting to a demidragon spontaneously, and leaping to the air, allowing her to crash. The wall of fire disappeared as I lost concentration on that.

She growled as she shook her head, me hovering up in the air, not really bothered by anything that was happening. She hissed at the sight of me, leaping to the air, and engaging me in a battle of teeth and claws. This was how we'd fought before, back when I'd been twelve. Back when I'd gotten my trademark scar.

I slammed her into the ground, biting at her chest with my teeth. Sand began to pour out of the wound and she cackled as she spun me over and slammed my head into the ground. My vision focused on one thing: the faces of my friends, before I lost consciousness and blackness took over.

~.~

 _Beep beep beep beep_

I groaned as I opened my eyes to the blinding lights of a hospital. I didn't notice much, other than the taste in my mouth, the fact that my head really hurt, and the brightness of the lights. It was when I heard intense arguing in the background that I finally began to look at my surroundings.

I was definitely in a hospital, probably Urgent Care, as that was the closest thing to the high school in my town. I had a bunch of bandages on my arms and legs, my head felt like a thousand guys with sledgehammers were currently whacking me upside the head. I focused on the two people who were arguing: Aiden and a nurse.

I wasn't really focusing on what they were arguing about when I said "Uh, no disrespect, but kindly shut up, you're making my head worse."

Aiden spun around and upon noticing I was awake, he burst into a rapid fire of "OHMYGODAREYOUOKAYANDISAWYOUWHATTHEHECKWEREYOUTHINKINGYOUIDIOTWHYONEARTHWOULDYOUDOTHATDOYOUKNOWHOWTERRIFIEDCHRISANDIWERENOTTOMENTIONMATTOHMYGOD!"

I winced at his loud speech.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to yell." he said, looking apologetically.

"Just don't do it again, you big goof. Why am I here?" I blinked.

The nurse made a series of odd movements with her lips before she left the room. Aiden took a seat in the chair next to the bed.

"The school called the ambulance, something about you taking on a terrorist or something. We watched as you shifted back to a human, with all these nasty cuts and stuff. For the life of them, they couldn't figure out why you were the only kid without burns." Aiden pointed to a small one on his hand.

I raised my hands to chest level and wiggled my fingers. "Magic."

He snorted. "I mean a reasonable answer for mortals."

"Did anyone else get hurt?" I asked.

"A few people got some pretty bad burns, but other than that, no." Aiden paused for a second, his eyes not meeting my gaze. "I didn't really believe you before that attack though. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. Not everyday that someone tells you a bunch of gods and monsters are real. If I were you, and had grown up differently, I think I'd be the same."

The door to the room opened. In walked Chris, who happened to be carrying a bag of McDonald's. He glanced over at us as he closed the door, his eyes widening.

"Holy crap, I thought you were gonna die!" He exclaimed, running over to the other chair, and sliding into the seat.

"I've had worse scrapes than this," I reassured him. "You okay though? Did my wall burn either of you?"

Chris held out his left arm and carefully rolled up his hoodie sleeve, revealing some bandages. "Just this, I got the worst burns out of the two of us, cause my arm flew out to stop this lunatic from running headfirst into the flames of hell."

I laughed, wincing as pain shot up from my chest. "Well, take a mental note that fire can hurt you guys."

"Yeah, about that," Chris said a bit forced with the casualness. "I think I got claimed by my father."

"Oh? How so?"

"Flaming hammer appeared over his head. After he got burned. The flames spurted around his face, but didn't burn him at all after that." Aiden replied.

"That's the sign for Hephaestus. Congrats, man." I smiled while Chris scratched his head and looked away.

"Yeah, well I still feel bad you got hurt. You want half my burger or something? You've gotta be hungry."

I shrugged. "If you really wanna split your food with me."

We all began to get comfortable, sharing food like we did whenever we were at my house and such. Conversation about what we thought would happen now and whether I would be allowed to leave was mostly what we talked about.

In fact, it was so peaceful that when the door flung open to reveal a doctor, I jumped and tensed, biting back the curses from the pain.

"Sorry Miss Blaze, I didn't intend on startling you." he said.

I loosened a bit. "Obviously if you had, you would've laughed at such a prank, but since you haven't laughed, I'll continue to think you're being sincere."

He blinked while Aiden and Chris laughed a bit.

"She's very sarcastic and occasionally literal," Chris explained. "Especially when she's hurt. She cracks jokes to ease tension."

"Oh," The doctor shook his head. "Well then. I'm Dr. Forner, and I'm here to check up on how you're doing. How do you feel?"

I considered this for a minute, before replying "Other than I feel like I just got out of a fight with a cat, and my head hurts, much better now that my stomach has something in it, thank you very much Chris."

Dr. Forner nodded. "That's completely normal. Do you remember who you are?"

"Yup. No memory loss, other than what I had for dinner last night. That's normal though, I'm used to that. My name is Blaze, I'm sixteen and these two morons are my friends."

Dr. Forner wrote something down on his clipboard. "Ah, well I suppose that's good. Do you think you're well enough to go home?"

I shrugged. "Probably. This is nothing, I've been through worse."

Dr. Forner nodded, looking distracted. "Well then, I'll see if you are actually capable of going home."

"I've been staying at a friends house for awhile." I called as he walked out the door.

Chris raised an eyebrow. "Have you really?"

"Yeah, Aiden's house."

"Oh. Huh."

We waited till I was discharged with several warnings and yada yada yada. I stepped into the bathroom to change into normal clothing, which Chris had apparently stopped by my house to grab.

I undressed myself, noticing with a frown that there were a few bandages around my chest and such. I carefully put on my shirt and jeans, noticing that my hoodie was still in one piece, thank Fortuna. Once I stepped outside though, I realized how tired I was.

And that's when I woke up by a teacher tapping on my head, a slightly concerned look on her face.

"Uh oh..."

 **A/N**

 _ **Hello peoples. Yep, I had to do a bit of a prank for this one. It's not much of a prank, as the first bit was when she was actually awake. She fell asleep when she got back to class though, which is why there is a different breaker. Sorry for getting your hopes up, you all know I don't do serious battles until later. But perhaps there is something related to this dream of Blaze's later? Maybe just MAAAAAAAYBE? Idk, we'll see. This chapter is dedicated to...hmm...my sister I guess. Cause she's the best oldest sister EVER. Anyway, I'm done. I sound like I'm drunk when I'm not. This is why we don't let me write in sixth period people. I wanna go home ;-;**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two:** _I love nightmares (not really)_

I'm not sure if many of you have occasionally have a flashback of sorts, except it has something completely unreasonable happen in it making it a nightmare, but ever since Dominic's defeat, I have a habit of having such things, probably due to the amount of worry and stress that was going on right now. And that's what landed me in the nurse's office, attempting to explain I was fine, and that this was normal. Well, normal for me anyway.

I was so happy when they finally let me out for dismissal, the hallways were the utter chaotic mess like they usually were. I ran outside, my backpack already on as they'd allowed me to go five minutes ahead of the bell ringing to get my stuff. Instead of getting on my bus, I went on Chris's, as we'd planned an hour of Mario Kart before we'd head over to Aiden's and then go out to Rosewood Park.

The bus driver didn't argue, we'd done this multiple throughout the school year, I'd even explained why a few times.

It was a relatively quiet bus ride between the two of us. Aiden and Chris knew of my daymares, flashbacks and such. It was just something we never discussed, cause I never brought it up. It was gonna be awhile 'till we got to Chris's stop, as there were a bunch of different stops the bus had to make. Chris lived near the middle school, in the southern part of our town. As did I, but I didn't live as close to the middle school.

I closed my eyes and leaned against the window, deciding to doze off a bit before we had to go. I awoke to the gentle shaking of my friend, signaling we were there. Once we stepped off the bus, it drove away, leaving the group of teenagers to walk home. Sadly, when we got to his house, his parents weren't home, so we ended up walking to Aidens house.

We cut through the middle school parking lot, where a few weeks before I'd been dropped off with Brett and Matt by the Camp Half-Blood bus. It brought back memories of the battle. I just bit my lip though, and said nothing. Chris had dropped off his backpack in his house and grabbed his longboard, so I was mostly walking a little bit behind him.

He'd gotten surprisingly better over the years, though longboarding had never been an interest of mine. We went into the woods by the school, a small pathetic bit of trees that qualified as "woods", but not an actual full-blown out forest in my opinion. I was a bit wary in these woods, as I'd never been in her alone, and I'd heard from a few kids at school that there was actually this homeless guy who'd chase you if you were alone.

When we finally arrived at Aiden's house, Tanis was on his skateboard out in the front, and Aiden was watching him. Because of the sound of the wheels rolling on the pavement, they heard our arrival, more of Chris's really, since my footsteps were silent.

"What's up with you?" Tanis asked me without looking at me. He seemed to be concentrating mostly on what he was doing, and I had no idea on that.

Tanis doesn't usually live at his home anymore, preferring to spend most of his time at Camp Half-Blood or Camp Jupiter. Camp Jupiter had recently become his home, as he'd mastered all that anyone could teach him at Camp Half-Blood. According to my sister; Flame, he was extremely good at learning, not afraid to do what he wanted, although he wasn't particularly skilled at following orders.

Today, he'd visited to see how much the camp had grown, helping out with preparations and such, before he flew back to Camp Jupiter. He was the only one out of this new trio, who knew how to shift into his true, demidragon form. Kinda funny, really, when he's the oldest one, and in theory, it would be harder for him to shift.

His scales and tail spikes can actually change color, like a chameleon. This trait is actually rare in demidragons, and the cause of it is because of the excess amount of magical energy...or just your parentage. Tanis and Aiden share the same father: Healer. But Tanis's mother is Nemesis, the goddess of revenge. She's been known to take up the appearance of someone you hate, and think deserves revenge. Perhaps that is why he has chameleon powers, who knows. Another little trait of his from the chameleon powers are his eyes: they're a darker version of the rainbow. As a human, his eyes simply change color because mortal bodies can't handle that level of magic, but once in demidragon form, they're rainbow all the time.

Anyway, I glanced up at him, as he hopped off the skateboard. "Nothing's up with me, I've just got a lot on my mind."

"Alright," he said, but didn't sound convinced.

We began the long and tedious project of walking to Rosewood Park, which...was in the town next to our own….

…

The thing I like most about the woods in general, is how clean the air is. For just a few moments, you don't smell car exhaust, garbage and fast food. You smell clean, fresh air, smelling like the trees, and maybe a bit of pine, if you live up north like us.

When we finally got to the camp, a few people were still working hard on it, the elders were back at Camp Half-Blood. Hunter was once again, digging in the dirt, the dirt flying everywhere like deadly projectiles. A new barrier had been raised with the help of a few other demidragons to protect us from most monsters, including drakons, so we had no threat of hellhounds charging in and killing another apprentice.

As always, Aiden and Chris showed the look of wonder, looking at all the demidragons in their true forms and how much effort was being put into this camp. Due to the fact that they had no idea how to shift, and it's not exactly something you can give people instructions for and leave them alone for half an hour. Most demidragons learn how to shift at a young age.

"Come over here, guys, I wanna start work on the Healer's den, and there will be no idle hands, even if you can't shift." I flicked my tail at them, gesturing for them to follow, Tanis trailing behind as a demidragon, his typical "dark blue with weird patterns" look going on.

The healer's den was a large bush, made even bigger on the inside with some magic. It'd been completed awhile ago, when Lizzie had been working on the island, but a recent storm had knocked down the entrance way, which had been a branch pushing up the remaining branches of the bush, two logs stuck firmly into the ground to keep the branch up. I'd gone out a few days ago, and found a suitable branch to work, but due to the fact that I was finally starting to show the side effects from having Hiccup, I couldn't quite lift it the way I could when I was at full strength.

"We need this, on top of those. Normally, I'd do it by myself, but-" I was cut off when Chris began to speak.

"You're still recovering from everything that happened. We know."

I wasn't sure whether to feel angry he'd interrupted, or thankful that I didn't have to keep repeating myself. Instead, I focused on using my talons to pick up the log. Tanis took the other side, and Aiden and Chris helped with lifting it.

Demidragon's don't normally stand on their hind legs. It's kinda like how any four-legged creature would stand on just two legs: extremely wobbly. Even if we're used to two legs from being humans, four legs are what we're used to in demidragons. I've actually gotten pretty good at doing this, mostly from acting like I'm a dog and leaning on someone who can hold up some of my weight. I still have yet to get good enough to be able to walk forward, wobbly or not.

Anyway, we kept the log under our chins, holding the log with our talons, and mostly trying not to topple over. With the help of Chris and Aiden, we managed to get the branch up on to the logs, Tanis and I releasing it, so that it wouldn't crush our talons. Chris and Aiden let go as well, stepping back to look at the log.

"What's the purpose of putting a log here?" Chris asked.

"To prevent any top branches from smacking you in the face and poking your eye out."

"I'm going to go hunt." Tanis announced, walking out of the camp.

Aiden watched him leave. "How does he do that…." he murmured.

"Do what? Hunt?" I asked.

"Just...act like it's completely natural to be wondering as some strange creature full time, saying 'I'm going to go hunt' casually, like it's no big deal."

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you implying that you don't feel that you'll be able to fit in here?"

"No, first time no one has looked at me like I'm a complete weirdo, in a long time. I guess there's just a part of me that'll never get over how amazing and crazy all this stuff is. Sorry, if you don't quite understand. You knew about all this stuff early on…" Aiden trailed off as he saw my massive grin.

"What makes you think that just because I grew up with all of this, means that I ever grew out of the childish wonder and excitement over how amazing this life can be sometimes? True, I grew up with it, but that doesn't mean I don't treasure every good day where something doesn't explode, or a murderer doesn't try and kill us. I've seen amazing little bits of the possible future, when we're finally in a somewhat peaceful stage. You will too, someday."

"I just want to be able to shift. Maybe then I'll actually feel like I belong." Chris said, sighing.

"Just because you can't shift yet, doesn't mean you're not a part of FireClan. Be patient, you'll shift eventually."

The rest of the day was mostly spent informing them of expected clan behaviors and duties when they finally got training. Tanis came back somewhere in between, and tossed a fresh vole at me, bringing the rest of his catch to the storage area.

My caretakers noticed of nothing different when I returned home, telling them I'd gone out to hang around some of my friends. They didn't know I'd planned another trip to Camp Half-Blood….

 **A/N**

 _ **Such fun to be working on a chapter for a bunch of months. Sorry for the delay, I got uninspired for awhile, and then I finally got back into the rhythm, but couldn't write because I usually get distracted by other projects if I'm working in my house for some strange reason. So, that would be why BATO books and other projects are typically written in school, when I have free time. It keeps me focused, probably cause I can't do anything else. Anyway, I hope y'all liked this really late chapter. I might start working on Dragonborn at some point, if I ever get enough inspiration to do it. I've been working on other backstories. A lot of positive feedback I've been getting lately, has been coming from**_ _Queens of the Vega Bond_ _ **(Not 100% if that's the title, it's been awhile since I've worked on it) and**_ _Shadows and Blazes_ _ **. Tbh, I never thought I'd be doing TLK fanfictions, but I guess I can work on both of those when I find the chance. Hope you all had a happy new year! :)**_

 **This chapter is dedicated to the fabulous Aiden, as he and a few of my other friends introduced me to Undertale, and now I'm craving spaghetti...Still, thanks man!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three:** _It's The Thought That Counts And Often Mine Are Scattered_

It was pretty early in the morning when I heard a small tap on my window. I rolled out of bed, opening the blinds and seeing the demidragon face of Tanis. He was hovering. I opened the window, yawning. I typically wore boys boxer shorts, a t-shirt, and sometimes a sweatshirt if I really wanted to, to bed. I was glad I'd thrown on the sweatshirt.

"What do you want, Tanis?" I asked, yawning again.

"What, no 'hello', or 'how do you do'? You just immediately assume I want something and wouldn't just be flying by to say hi?"

I rubbed my eyes. "Sorry man, I don't typically get visits from slightly insane weirdos who are older than me and known for being particularly skilled in the art of parkour and scaring the crap out of people. Remind me to add that to my 'What to do when someone knocks on your window at 3 something in the morning' book, so that I have a future reference of what to throw at you when you do it."

Tanis grinned. "Glad to know you've still got sarcasm even when you're half asleep."

"Are you kidding me? This is completely unfiltered, Class A sarcasm for you. I'm tired. And my filter's broken. Fight me."

"Nah. Anyways, we have a problem."

I did my best to wake up faster. "What is it?"

"It's Aiden. He's having these nightmares, and none of us can wake him up. I tried getting Chris to wake him up. We tried smacking him. Nothing works."

"What does he do?" I asked.

"Twists around and screams occasionally. Sometimes makes like he's fighting creatures as a demidragon but he doesn't shift. I don't know what to do."

The blood in my face seemed to melt off. "Does he fight as if there is a horrible beast fighting him? As if he will die if he doesn't win?"

Tanis nodded.

I shifted at the speed of light, sliding the screen up and wiggling out. Before I fell, Tanis grabbed my scruff in his teeth and yanked me up so I didn't die. He dragged me away from the house, slipping out of the air himself as he struggled to keep us both afloat. Finally, I managed to get my own wings open, and flapped them hurriedly so that we wouldn't both go down. Once we were securely in the air, we flew higher and circled back to his house.

Tanis's flight skills weren't quite up to my level yet. In our human forms, Tanis was always faster than me, stronger than me, and far more skilled at activities, despite my insane amount of human training of the late. But as a demidragon? We were far more easily matched, with me often taking the lead with things like flying. Ever since he'd started his training, he kept progressing more and more, getting stronger. He was eager to learn all that there was. Whether it was to protect his clan or his brother was unclear, but I knew he wasn't likely to turn to Dominic. Not after what he heard Dominic had done to Shrew….

We made it into Tanis's house without any problem. I was shocked to find the kitchen dark and devoid of anyone. His parents must've been sleeping, although how could they when Aiden was supposedly screaming?

Suddenly, I did in fact, hear a terrified scream. Tanis rushed to his brother's battered door; covered in so many nicks and scratches in the paint from mostly him beating on it, and rushed inside where the lights were still on, though a bit dim so it was less harsh on the eyes. Aiden was twisting and turning, lashing out with tense fingers curled like claws. It reminded me of my own nightmares. Which he was in fact, facing, if my theory was correct.

I followed Tanis, closing the door, and saw Chris sitting in Aiden's desk chair, looking absolutely terrified for his friend. Tanis had grabbed Aiden's wrists in attempts to restrain him and prevent the boy from hurting himself, or others, but his legs and body still thrashed on the messy bed.

I was once again, amazed by how much stuff fit into Aiden's room. It was smaller than mine, but contained a lot of things; clothes scattered around, pieces of paper, folders, the occasional manga or comic book, and various other miscellaneous crap. Not to mention the stuffed animals here and there. Some of you may laugh at him, but Aiden has to be one of the nicest people I know, with a few problems, but he's seriously a decent guy. Leave him be, I own a lot more than him, but most people don't go around teasing me for it cause I'm a girl. Why should he be any different?

Anyways, Tanis was doing his best to prevent harm from coming to his little brother or the two other occupants in the room, but Aiden's fear made him even more powerful, and he was struggling hard to get out of his grasp.

"Let him go," I ordered.

"If I do, he might fall off and hurt himself," Tanis said, shifting his face out of the way to avoid a swift kick to it.

"You'll prolong the nightmare. Let him be, I'll try something to soothe this particular attack."

Tanis looked at me like I was nuts, but did as I said. Aiden immediately started thrashing around more violently. I darted over to the side of the bed, which was quite a feat, considering the mess. Concentrating on my magic, I took two fingers and began to lightly stroke his forehead. He kept thrashing but slowly seemed to calm down, bit by bit, until he lay still, with his eyes moving from side to side as he dreamed, muscles not quite loosening.

Tanis stared at me. "How did you do that?"

"Brief spurt of mind magic to soothe him," I replied. "But it's going to take more to wake him. I'll need you both to assist."

"How can we help?" Chris asked, leaning forward.

"Chris, you are not yet strong enough to mentally assist me with such a task, so I'd like to ask you to please make sure none of us get worse. Tanis, I need you to help me delve into his mind and revive him. Normally, this would be an easy task but...I think he's fighting my nightmares, my fears. Not even I know how to beat them. I need a strong, somewhat rational mind to make sure I don't go insane."

Tanis laughed without humor. "Me, rational? Blaze, you've lost your mind if you think I'm rational."

"Tanis, you've always, always helped me, and I've helped you in return. You often kept me steady on my feet when I was upset at weird hours because of those damn caretakers. I need that kind of brotherly support right now, to help with your real brother."

Tanis's face is often hard to read. Mostly, it's this mask of anger, cut off from everyone, though his thoughts may be pleasant. Like me, we have a permanent "grumpy face", which casts everyone around us, under the impression that we should not be approached as we'll rip their heads off. But, we're often willing to help, provided the person seeking it is a good person. Over the years, I've become very good at figuring out his emotions behind that grumpy face of his. And I'll swear to it, there are times when it softens, just a small fraction, to those he trusts. It was one of those moments.

He knelt down next to me. "Tell me what to do."

Within a few minutes, I'd told them of my plan. Tanis and I would link minds and then I would insert a sliver of my soul, and Tanis's, into Aiden's head. Since he was unconscious, we would be brought to the shifting lands of his nightmare, and "join" the dream with him. The only way to get out at this point was to defeat the one terrible thing keeping him there. I would help fight the fear, and to keep me from going insane, Tanis would help. He would calm me down when he sensed me going under. Once we'd managed to wake him up, we would figure out what to do next.

I knew Tanis and Chris were both wondering why Aiden was being plagued with my own nightmares, but they kept silent for now, wanting to solve this problem first. I also knew I'd probably be heavily questioned later on, for what the hell was going on.

I did what was necessary for a small bit of Tanis's soul to temporarily join mine, and then inserted a bit of my own to enter Aiden. Once we were inside, it was dark, and I couldn't recognize my surroundings yet.

"Where do you reckon we are?" Tanis asked, surveying the area. We'd both been reduced to demidragon form in this nightmare. Soon, we came across a naked (ew) Aiden who was curled into a ball, crying. He was marked up with scratches and bite marks that continued to bleed.

Tanis rushed over to his brother, scaring the crap out of him. Aiden screamed upon seeing him.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, it's me. It's just me. It's alright. I'm not going to harm you, Aiden. It's alright." Tanis started rambling those reassuring words that you say when trying to calm someone down. Instead of being in his normal, gruff voice, he'd softened it to the voice he used when making sure someone was okay, just as I did. It was the softest I'd ever heard it, and he curled around his little brother, licking his face gently with his tongue.

Gradually, Aiden calmed down just a bit and threw his arms around his older brother, sobbing heavily into his neck. I approached with more caution. Aiden's head snapped up when I got near, but he didn't back up. He did start to whimper, though.

"It's alright Aiden. It's me. I won't let harm come to you either." I told him softly.

He watched me warily as I approached them, and I covered up the remaining bit of exposed skin as I opened my wings and drew them around us. My body warmed us all, and Aiden gradually stopped shivering. He stared up at me in amazement, his hazel eyes boring into my green ones.

I gently nuzzled his messy hair, breathing the air that had gone into my lungs out of my nose onto his face. His face scrunched up, and he twisted around to give me a hug too. While he did, I rubbed my head reassuringly on his back and looked at Tanis. Tanis looked livid. I wasn't sure if he was angry at me or whichever beast that lurked in my head, but I knew he wasn't going to hold back when helping me defeat it.

"What attacked you?" I asked quietly.

Aiden stopped hugging me and attempted to speak only to find that he couldn't. He leaned down to the dirt and started drawing something in the sand. It was a demidragon, with a heavily scarred face...Dominic. He was facing one of my worst fears. Worst of all, he was a part of that fear, not as the thing I was afraid of, but something I was afraid of something happening to him.

I heard a roar as Dominic reentered the room, he smirked as he studied us, just as the real one would've.

"Cover for me," Tanis muttered, getting to his feet.

Aiden stared at him with wide eyes, absolutely terrified.

"Tanis no," I said quietly. He stopped and stared at me.

"What do you mean, 'no'? He's been hurting my brother!"

"This is a part of my fear, Tanis. I must be the one to fight it. Otherwise, you too will be used as a weapon to stop me."

Suddenly, a look of understanding flashed upon Tanis's face. He now understood my immense fear of losing them both. I looked down at Aiden where he was clinging to me again, with his wide, terrified eyes, he said one thing: don't do it. I heaved a heavy sigh, and licked his face once, before extracting myself to fight my own nightmare. Aiden tried to go after me, but Tanis wrapped his tail around him, eventually drawing him close to his body to keep him still and warm now that I was gone.

Before me stood my greatest enemy. The one I hated the most. The one I feared the most. He laughed a cruel laugh, and we began to battle. Whispers of his voice crept into my mind, and I struggled to not break down and stop fighting.

I'm not sure if any of you really understand how horrifying it is to be trapped inside your own nightmare, fighting it while whispers of other fears float into your head. The only way I kept fighting, was thinking about how terrified Aiden must've been behind me. How much he must've been so alone and afraid. Half of the reason I'd reformed FireClan, was to allow others to never, ever, feel alone and afraid. There would always be someone there to lend and ear, to warm you, to feed you. You'd never be alone.

As my enemy and I paused to catch our breaths, I glanced at Aiden. He was crying, his face shining with tears, looking downright terrified, and I didn't blame him. Tanis kept his face emotionless, but I could see that he was willing to me to keep it up, to finish it.

I took a deep breath, and turned back to the nightmarish version of Dominic, that was becoming even more and more horrible looking as time progressed. We leaped at each other, clawing desperately at each other faces until one of my hind legs managed to get up right where his chest ended. With the last bit of strength I possessed, both mentally and physically, I pushed with all of my might, and sliced his underbelly open. As you can probably guess, organs went flying everywhere, and he stared in shock at me, as we both fell to the ground.

My body felt battered and bruised. I was exhausted. The nightmarish Dominic faded and the nightmare subsided. With a little more energy, I expelled Tanis and me from Aiden's head and then removed Tanis from my own. It took a few minutes to regain consciousness, but when I opened my eyes, Aiden was clinging desperately to Tanis, crying like he had when he'd been in the nightmare. The wounds from that nightmare migrated with him as had my own on my human body. Payment for having such a dream, I suppose.

Tanis did not shy away from embracing his brother. He kept him there, rubbing his bare back and whispering things into his ear. Chris helped me up on the bed.

"I thought you were gonna fade Blaze, you literally started dissolving. And when those cuts opened up...man, that was scary," he said, his blue eyes staring at me.

I breathed heavily. Aiden noticed me on his bed and he reached over to tug me into the odd little embrace that he and his brother had. He wouldn't let go of me. And I wasn't about to try and get away. I clung to them both, needing the support, accepting it for once. Slowly, I too, began to cry, letting out the relief and pain I felt.

Chris walked out of the room and minutes later, reentered with medical supplies. We managed to pry ourselves apart from each other, but Aiden kept a firm grip on one of our hands. Tanis and I shared a long look before he nodded at me. In a gesture that wasn't so romantic, as it was more brotherly, he took his free hand and wiped some of the tears off my face.

"It's alright kiddo, let it out. We both know it isn't right to keep this stuff inside so long," he said quietly.

Chris tended to Aiden's wounds first, at my insistence. Then, he tended to mine. Mine required him pulling up the back of my sweatshirt and t-shirt to clean and put band-aids on them, but I felt no self-consciousness. Chris didn't linger. It was purely medical, and respectful, which I appreciated him doing.

Aiden rested his head on my shoulder, not minding the boniness. Tanis glanced at me. Still using a soft tone, he said: "Kiddo, if you're up for it, explaining things might help a little."

I took a shaky breath and started to speak. "Occasionally, mind magic users have been known to lose control of their powers and have certain thoughts or fears or whatever, leak into an open minded person around them. It only happens to a select few of people, since very few are like Aiden. For example, your mind would not be in danger, Tanis, because yours is like mine. It is locked and armed with thorns. Chris would also not be a good candidate, as he is also quite closed off sometimes. But Aiden...he's open. My recent feelings must have gotten out of control and caused this since all of my powers are triggered by powerful emotion. I've never had my mind magic go out of control before, but this is the only reason I can think of. Now you see why mind magic is often forbidden...it's dangerous. It can lead you to insanity."

Tanis was quiet for awhile, absorbing that. Then he reached around Aiden and stretched his arm out to rub my back gently. "Kiddo...I'm a little more concerned about that level of fear you have. I mean, if you've been dealing with these nightmares ever since...May...then that means-"

"Yes. I've been dealing with that level of fear and even greater for months now. School gets out in one more week. I've been juggling final exams, other schoolwork, duties to my clan and to my family, all with that of the nightmares I've been plagued with since May. Some have always been there, but now they're followed with things like that. Tonight was one of the few nights where I wasn't trapped in a nightmare, but dreamless before you woke me up."

Aiden suddenly wrapped his arms around me tightly. "I didn't know you were going through this, Blaze," he said very softly, in a voice that sounded very frail. It made me upset to hear him like that.

"None of us did, buddy. So don't take it personally." Tanis wrapped his arms around us too. "You've got to stop hiding these things from us, kiddo. You know we won't judge you. We don't care if you look strong. We just want you to be okay."

Chris joined in, his normal coolness being overpowered by their heat and my own. "We're your friends, Blaze. Aren't friends supposed to help each other?"

"I'm sorry…" I croaked. "I've been trying to protect you all from danger."

Tanis smiled a smile that wasn't at all friendly, more cold and humorless. "We share that trait. I've already seen some pretty horrible things, Blaze. You don't need to protect me. Howsabout we protect each other instead of one taking the job? Don't you dare complain, you buttmunch. We're your friends, dammit. Stop being all 'heroic', and let us do our job."

We all sat like that for a long time, watching the sun come up as we all planned ways of catching up on our missing sleep. But I knew the three of us that had faced that nightmare would probably end up in the same room, dozing. After all, nothing like fear binds people better together.

 **A/N**

 _ **Man, this thing has been on hiatus for a long time. I'm not saying this thing is back to "regular" posting, but as of the late, I have been more interested in it. Right now, I'm in the middle of being slightly depressed because the real Tanis's girlfriend is a bit of a bitch, and I'm no longer capable of talking to my surrogate older brother. Writing this chapter kinda reminded of how he used to talk and act. I miss him, he's a really good friend when his head's screwed on right that is. Anyways, I best get this up. It's 2:47, and I need to finish watching Akidearest so I can continue reading Eragon. Hope you enjoyed! (also hope this is better quality than my sixth-grade work)**_


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